Clipper

April Sipdown Alphabet Challenge: “A” Tea
I really love the idea of this challenge it’s a great way to work my way through my cupboard of teas. I chose this one since I’ve been holding on to the last teabag of it and I don’t really need to? I also wanted something caffeine-free tonight after finishing a paper for class. It’s just a really nice nighttime bagged tea.

Sipdown!

Mastress Alita’s Sipdown Challenge – National Strawberry Day

Ok, hear me out. I said I wouldn’t repurchase this. I said it has hibiscus and I don’t like hibiscus. I said I’d just cold brew it and be done with it. Well, it turns out that I really kinda love this as a cold brew. Love as in, I looked forward to drinking this every time I made it. It has a completely artificial strawberry flavor, but it turns out that I like that. I’d make a big tumbler of this to sip on throughout the day at work or while I was studying, and it was delightful. Like eating candy without getting all that sugar stuck in your teeth. So yeah, I’d totally repurchase this if I ran across it somewhere down the road. Is it the highest quality tea? No. Does it make me happy? Yes.

I received a box of this as part of a Christmas gift. I’ve been side eyeing it for a few weeks trying to figure out what to do with it. The first ingredient listed is hibiscus. I’m not a fan of hibiscus. I am a fan of strawberry teas. See the dilemma? Anyway, I decided my best shot was to cold brew it, and it actually turned out ok. The strawberry flavor is artificial and candy like. It reminds me of the little hard candies wrapped in cellophane that have a strawberry design on it. There’s also a “green” flavor. Like someone threw some strawberry leaves and vines into the mix, too. The result isn’t unpleasant just… odd. I do get some sour notes from the hibiscus, but they’re nowhere near as intense as they would be if I drank this hot. Final verdict: I’ll drink this as a cold brew, but it’s nothing I’d buy for myself.

As a side note, the artwork on the box is adorable, and I’m digging the shades of pink and green they chose to use. So cute!

This is a good stuff. I repeat. This is a good stuff.

Consider this, it is a bag. Old school tea bag. Not a pyramid one, nor sachet. Typical boring, unbleached tea bag.

I wish I knew how long I was steeping it. But I guess it will be close to 4 minutes as I was helping my mother with connection of external screen to her laptop.

To the tea… as I said, probably long steeped. But the taste is great. A smooth, but brisk and fullbodied black tea base and nice bergamot flavour. The bergamot is strong, but not overpowering the base, and although it is natural bergamot flavouring it is a nice one and not stinging the tongue or anything else like that. I have experienced those in few previous bagged tea bags I have had. I will happily drink the other two I have received. Thank you Izzy!

Weather in my region. Over night about 5-10 cm of new snowfall, main road wet, but clear. Not sure if yay! Or ohh, I guess I need to take out my winter shoes.

This was another tea I received in a tea bag swap on Swapbot my partner said it was one of her current favorites. The packaging says it is also organic.
I had to add an entry for this tea on Steepster as I couldn’t find one.
The tea bag smells like a powdery strawberry flavor
Once Brewed the color of the tea is a very pretty reddish pink from the hibiscus. Flavorwise there is some tartness from the hibiscus flavor and also a very powdery strawberry candy like taste to it. It’s quite cloying even with the pop of hibiscus flavor. This honestly reminds me of those little plastic fruit shaped candies that were filled with flavored sugar powder. It’s not for me. I’m glad I got to try this without having to drink whole box of it hehe. I’m going to brave this cup but if it hadn’t been a swap item and I had bought it myself it would get dumped.

I really like Clipper tea, especially this blend. The tea is from India (Assam) and Ceylon (nowhere specific) and you can really get that in the flavour, even though it’s not complex or deep in the slightest. It’s still both malty, full-bodied, and fresh-flavoured. I also find it ever so slightly sweet.

Best with milk, but certainly nice without. It’s not the bitter EB type. I wrote up the full review (the long version of this note) and took a few pics for the blog https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/clipper-english-breakfast-tea-review/

Side Note: It’s been over a year since I’ve posted here on Steepster… on one hand, I feel pretty bad for abandoning the site… on the other… what a time to come back! I’ve spent the past few hours catching up with the discussions – Steepster is actually getting maintenance/improvements now. That’s epic and about time. Hope everyone has been coping okay given the state of the world over the past year :)

Also, huge thanks to Martin for reaching out and getting me back on here!

A tea bag from Izzy for this gloomy morning.

Brewed one tea bag in my 300 ml cup and steeped for 3 minutes.

Pretty much common black tea blend, quite tannic and malty. There are as well some lighter, maybe citrusy, notes. Not terribly bitter, which is always a plus for bagged stuff.

I have a tea bag. I have no idea where I got it. From swap, from postcrossing or I bought it myself?

Anyway, caffeine-free tea for evening. Tomorrow another inventory check. Quite far (3 and half hours by bus).

Yep, just a rooibos. Nothing else, nothing more. Little extra points for being organic.
Do not expect much and you will be happy with this one. No bad notes, little honeyish taste, nice tea bag design.

Enjoyable :)

refreshing and fruity

I was sent this tea from my best friend Andy in the UK. It’s a light taste, I have it almost every night with a bit of milk, no sugar. It doesn’t knock me out of course but it’s relaxing enough.

Again…
Much shorter, as I don´t recall it so well. Can´t we have some autosaves for tasting notes?

I have a physics exam today again, I did not studied much for it. As an extra – I have flu. I brain feels boiled, can´t focus at all.

Colour of brew is brown, nothing really fancy – maybe yellow (golden) notes.
Aromas are lemon, slightly sour and herbal.
Taste is very similar – lemon, but with some herbal aftertaste.

Overall, it is quite okay. Maybe my teaste buds are numb, so I can´t enjoy it so much. I feel numb completely myself.

Finished a cuppa; it went better than expected. A verbena in makes me feel bit better probably (I googled few effects it should have), yerba maté woke me up and overall it was nice blend. Not that I would make another cup, but certainly nice. Now, to the physics.

So I have been putting off entirely updating my Steepster cupboard, because honestly, I know it’s insane and people will think I’m being buried under tea. I promise, the tea is organized. I will slowly add them all over the next few days. SO don’t be alarmed, even if I know there is ONE serving left, it’s a variety of tea that is going on the Steepster cupboard until it’s a sipdown. Updating the cupboard is so when I’m even remotely thinking of acquiring more tea, I will just take a look at the number and slap myself upside the head. I’m not trying to win the Steepster crazy cupboard award. Of course I appreciate all these teas, but too much is too much. And I need to enjoy the awesome teas that I already have. I guess it’s also a problem when I feel like tea companies will go out of business without purchases. And there are only so many tea drinkers and SO many tea shops. So I feel like I should buy from them and support them once in a while… especially the small companies.

This is a random teabag from an ancient teabox. I love the name. (Oh, I’m NOT putting individual teabags in the Steepster cupboard at least.) This one might be too old to judge, but it wasn’t bad. I’m sure it’s much better fresh. Hints of lemon, lavender and mint and very savory.

364/365

I assume the name of this one is a play on “War & Peace”, that notable sleep-inducer. I find that cutely amusing, but in practice this is a pretty ordinary blend – chamomile, lemon balm, and lavender. The flavour isn’t bad, but it’s not unique or particularly inspiring – I mostly get lavender, with just a hint of lemon, and then the sweetness of chamomile in the background. It’s like a lot of sleep teas I’ve tried, in that respect, but I’m always up for trying a new one! So far, the Twinings Superblends and Bird & Blend’s Dozy Girl have been most effective for me, but both seem to give me crazily vivid dreams, which is a side effect I could do without. So, the search continues…

I didn’t experience any dreams with this one, but I’m not sure that it really helped me get to sleep. It took me at least an hour to drop off. I felt I stayed asleep more readily, although that could be coincidence. I’ll have to give it a few more tries before I can say for certain. I wouldn’t say I particularly like the flavour, but that’s more to do with my own personal preferences than anything else. I’m not generally a fan of floral teas, but sleep blends tend to be that way inclined. It’s drinkable, but not particularly…interesting? I’ve tried more flavoursome options, let’s say. Still, I don’t tend to drink sleep teas for the flavour, on the whole. It’s time I stopped complaining.

I’ll persevere for a while, certainly long enough to finish the box. You never know, after all.

194/365

I got these tea bags “free” with my flat when I moved in last year, and they’ve basically sat unloved in my cupboard since. Not for any particular reason, I think I just kept forgetting they were there. Since it’s firmly iced tea weather now, I decided to use up a decent handful of these by making sweet tea. The recipe that seems to strike about the right balance for me is 6 tea bags in 2 cups water for 5 minutes, with 1/4 cup of sugar. I then top it up to 2 litres with water.

It’s one of the best ways I know to ensure I get plenty of caffeine without having to drink hot tea all summer. I get caffeine withdrawal headaches if I go more than 3 hours without tea, but I blame my parents for giving it to me as a baby. Talk about addicted. The only problem with sweet tea (and my new best friend, anything cold brewed in lemonade) is the amount of sugar. I’m just glad I don’t have to go to the dentist anytime soon…

Anyway, this tea is strong enough to make a good base for sweet tea. It’s still possible to taste the black tea, rather than just sugar water, but it is still very sweet. It strikes a good balance, which is exactly how I like it. Clipper’s everyday seems more tannic than my usual Twinings, maybe with a tendency to be a little harsher/more astringent. I drank a hot cup with milk last night as part of my using-up spree, and found it malty but with a slight bitterness in the background. I’d not switch from my usual to this, but it’s not a bad substitute by any means.

Well, this tea converted me to a chamomile drinker. I always wanted to like chamomile (it seemed so iconic in the tea world), but just didn’t. Until I picked this up through TJ Maxx, and low and behold, I loved it. I stashed away a few boxes so I would not run out (sound familiar??) Alas, I have finally run out.( My next “go to” chamomile now is Ahmad chamomile lemongrass.) I love to drink an herbal at night, with a little honey.

057/365

Something simple this morning, for the first full week back at work. I found this one surprisingly malty, so probably quite heavy on the Assam, but with brighter, citrussy Ceylon notes. I think I actually prefer it to Twinings English Breakfast, which is something of a revelation to me. It’s so much maltier, and I really like that, although I wouldn’t necessarily drink it on an empty stomach.

Not much to say about this one, but I’m glad I tried it. It’s nice to find that I can still be surprised by something as ordinary as an EB!

Honeybush and orange are dominant in aroma, coconut hides in the background.
The taste is dry, slightly sour, warming, with heneybush, orange and coconut nicely balanced.